The Christmas Playlist

Interpreters

Gwilym Simcock . Direction & Jazz piano
Stuttgarter Kammerorchester

Programme

Arcangelo Corelli
Concerto grosso in G minor, Op. 6 No. 8, ‘Christmas Concerto’ (arr. Gwilym Simcock)

Traditional / Gwilym Simcock
Christmas Suite for orchestra and piano

‘I think a lot of young people don't consciously decide to become musicians. You just make more and more music, and suddenly it's your job.’ (Gwilym Simcock)

At the age of 13, he was given a two-hole plastic case with a magnetic tape reel. A teacher had recorded a few pieces by Keith Jarrett, Pat Metheny and other jazz legends for him. ‘The tracks on that cassette changed my life back then,’ says Gwilym Simcock, a trained pianist, French horn player and composer, and now one of the most important jazz musicians of his generation. Following the first SKO programme in 2022, ‘The Simcock Effect’ (from the moment the first note is struck, you forget the time), the Welsh ‘jazz superstar’ is now back as a guest and, together with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, will create the perfect atmosphere in the days leading up to the festive season. For what could be more moving than the Pastorale in Corelli's Christmas Concerto and English Christmas carols in a jazzy Simcock version? Simcock has festively packaged melodies from Germany and England, Christian and pop music for his playful ‘Christmas Suite’.